Elder Statesman
by SophieSaulie
Summary: AU of the movie with a focus on Steve Rogers. Alternative ending. Coulson's death brought them together but after Loki tries to kill Steve, he asks a favor of his newly minted friends.
1. Chapter 1

**Elder Statesman**

Dedicated to Ani-maniac494 for her friendship. Our mutual delight in all things h/c and deathfic, from **Supernatural** to **The Avengers**, I'm ever grateful to her friendship.

**Part 1:**

When Fury had flung the bubblegum cards, smeared with Agent Coulson's blood onto the table in front of him, all Steve could feel was ashamed and in many ways completely out of step with the 21st Century that he had awakened into. He felt the responsibility of his death. Coulson had believed in the cause, had believed in him and Steve felt like he had failed him, had let him die.

As he gazed out into the sky from the observation deck, his thoughts strayed to all that had passed by as he had slept, to everything he had loved and lost: Bucky, Erskine and Peggy, all long dead. Suddenly, he had never felt more alone, more old and more like the science experiment he had been than the man he was, no different than Stark's inventions and just luckier than Banner's attempts at recreating Erkine's experiment.

Dr. Erskine had made him promise to stay a good man and though he wouldn't surrender his beliefs in all things right and good, he sometimes found himself cursing his survival.

Evil was evil whether it was Schmidt or Loki. The pursuit for power, of having dominion over the innocent would always drive evil and he would always hate bullies. The essence of who he was felt the same, but there were moments when he felt antiquated in his patriotism and in his own pursuit of defeating evil. These new "partners" of his seemed to not share his devotion to good for good's sake. There was cynicism, an obligation to save the world that felt forced not offered with conviction or with the kind of teamwork that he had felt with the POWs he had rescued seemingly centuries ago. They had been united in a cause. There was a harsh edge to each of these people, whether it was jockeying for dominance or from a need to avoid helping at all.

Except for Coulson.

He had believed as passionately as Steve had believed and he had died heroically in the way that Steve understood. Once again, he felt the sting of failure, that he had let him down, that he hadn't lived up to the hero worship that Coulson had bestowed upon him.

He felt someone walk up beside him. It was Natasha. He didn't know her other than what he had seen in battle. She was a strong and capable woman, a warrior. It was clear to him that she had suffered in her past and was channeling it quite effectively into her fighting skills. She had been trained well.

Despite his old fashioned upbringing, he respected women. Peggy had been a fearless, no nonsense soldier herself. In many ways she had been just as distrustful and had tried to prove her worth as Natasha did now, but she, too, had possessed her own skills, a crack shot being just one of them, but unlike Natasha, Peggy had been compassionate, had comforted him when he had lost Bucky, had given him courage when his wavered. His heart ached for that loss the most, their last words to each other had been coy and painfully playful, knowing that they would never have that date they were planning. It was a way to cope with the impending crash that he had believed he would not survive. The unexpressed true feelings and lost opportunity had left the potential for romance unfulfilled.

Natasha was wounded and vulnerable herself, but he sensed that she and Clint Barton had history, her faith in him as much based in affection as it was in obligation.

"Are you all right?" Steve asked.

"I'm fine, why would you think anything was wrong?" She asked with the ever present touch of defensiveness in her voice.

Steve smiled softly.

"I meant no offense, just asking."

She felt immediately guilty for her snap judgement. She liked the Captain. He was kind and sympathetic yet he was strong and powerful. She admired that his power came from treating every person with equal respect.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"It's okay," he said as he turned back to stare at the horizon.

"Are you all right?"

"Agent Coulson was a good man."

Natasha took in a breath. She had been in her share of battles and wars, more as a surreptitious presence, possessing a stealth that being a trained spy and assassin had afforded. Losses were expected even commonplace. She had to admit that she had hardened herself, taking her emotions out of the human casualties. It was a necessity if she was going to continue exacting her own brand of death sentences towards threats.

"Yes, yes, he was. He was a courageous man as well," she said matter of fact.

Steve nodded.

"I let him down."

"He understood the risks," she pointed out.

"It doesn't make it any easier though, does it?"

"No, I guess it doesn't."

Steve saw defeat in her own eyes.

"I don't mean to pry, but you and Mr. Barton..." he trailed off in the hopes she would fill in the blanks.

"Are complicated," she finished then had a dreamy expression. "Let's just say he's also a good man."

"Understood," he said apologetically.

Natasha was normally a deeply distrustful woman. She had seen too many horrible things. Horrible things had been done to her so she didn't offer her trust easily. There were very few people who could penetrate her wall of self-protection and for whom she had given her trust unquestioningly. Clint Barton had been one of them.

"I'm afraid that what's happened to him will change him," she blurted out quietly. "I've seen hardened men destroyed by less."

She bowed her head.

"That he will hate himself for the lives he took. He's principled that way."

Steve listened and observed her tentativeness. It was not lost on him that she was entrusting him with information that she would normally never share with anyone other than maybe Clint Barton. He knew he had to honor and respect the responsibility she was placing in him. Clearly, she needed to share her fear with someone.

"I don't know Mr. Barton, but I can see that you think very highly of him otherwise you wouldn't be so worried."

Natasha demurred.

"We've been through a lot together."  
Steve nodded again.

"If he's as good a man as you say he is then it will affect him and it should because as a man of principle, he has a conscience, something evil men like Loki could never understand or have," he said, a wistful expression then came over his face. "A man I respected once told me that a good man doesn't let power corrupt him. He made me promise to stay a good man no matter what happened to me...I remind myself of that promise whenever I worry about losing my own conscience, my moral compass."

He paused and looked at her with a small smile.

"Barton is lucky," Steve said with honesty. "He'll have you to remind him that he isn't evil and if he's half the man you believe him to be, he will come out of this a better man, a stronger man."

Natasha gazed at Steve and saw the truth in his words and her eyes filled with tears.

"Thank you," she said earnestly.

She had appreciated the kindness that Steve had given her and could see that he was weighing his own uncertainties and insecurities. Coulson's death had wounded his confidence. Any one could see that he was the example they all needed to emulate if they were going to win this battle over Loki. She wanted to help him, fight by his side when the battle for Earth truly began.

"What happened to Coulson wasn't your fault."

It was Steve's turn to demure.

"He believed in me, in what I stood for...and he died..."

"Fighting for it," she insisted. "Because you did in the past and still are fighting for what he believed in, what you both believed in. His loss is tragic, but it's our job not to make his sacrifice a waste."

Steve couldn't help but smile.

"Maybe Barton isn't the only one who's lucky. Maybe we all are."

Natasha blushed a little with the compliment. Not easily accomplished since very little could shock her, let alone embarrass her. She considered herself unrepentantly jaded.

He turned back to the horizon, the sun was slowly painting the sky a yellowish orange with red streaks as it began to set, as if to express how angry Earth was for becoming a pawn for its supremacy by arrogant species.

"I know I'm being selfish and should be grateful for the abilities Dr. Erskine gave me, but I've lost so much. I feel as old as my age, like I should have done more, done better. I feel...obsolete."

Natasha felt a kinship with Steve Rogers, even generations apart, raised under vastly different environments, she clearly saw the man who had overcome his own discrimination and wished to be more like him.

Natasha gazed at the horizon with him.

"I read your dossier. Dr. Erskine's notes were in it. Do you know what he said?"

Steve could only bow his head, the memories still as vivid as if he had just talked with Erskine.

"He called you a natural leader, that he had never seen anyone so willing to place himself in harm's way to save others and who could inspire loyalty."

Steve lifted his head back up at that point.

"I couldn't save him either," Steve said.

"You're missing the point, Captain. Right now, we're just a group of people with our own selfish agendas, we know what we have to do, but beyond self-preservation, we don't know why we should do it. You do, you've always known that. Dr. Erskine knew you could make people invest in more than themselves."

Steve turned and smiled at her.

"You're not alone, not anymore," she said simply. "None of us are. We probably need you more than you need us."

Steve felt her sincerity and appreciated it.

"I'm not so sure that I've earned that, but thanks for saying it."

**AVAVAVAV**

Loki had cornered the three of them. Clint and Natasha were behind Steve as he shielded them with his body. Loki scoffed.

"Ah, I have captured the weakest links of your band of Earth's rescuers."

Steve straightened his stance.

"You're wrong about that, Loki," he said.

"Oh, am I? Enlighten me then, Captain. Banner unleashes his beast at the slightest provocation. Stark has innovated a metallic armour that not only protects him but does his bidding as well. My brother, he is the only one among you truly equal to me, but he's been cowed by the love of a woman and bothersome humility. You all have your weaknesses, but the three of you here are helpless without your weapons, as vulnerable as the rest of your mewling humanity. I think I've already proven that Barton is weak willed, easily succumbing to the influence of the tesseract, his female counterpart merely desires to wipe clean her bloody slate, burdened by her own conscience, one that was clearly derived by Barton's goodwill. And you, Captain, you are nothing more than an aberration. You think your serum makes you invulnerable? Well, think again. I know more than you think."

Steve tried to keep his fear in check as he attempted to decipher the implications of Loki's words.

Loki extended his scepter and Steve stood back, pressing Clint and Natasha more tightly behind him.

"You proclaim to be their leader so of all of them, you pose the greatest threat to my domination so you shall be the first."

"First what?" Steve said defiantly.

"First to be robbed of your arrogance."

Loki then pressed something on his scepter. A dart flew out and piercedSteve's chest, dispensing something before dislodging.

"What did you do?" Clint asked angrily, trying to get past, but feeling Steve's resistance.

"You shall witness the power I shall wield over humanity. Your serum created you, Captain. It can also undo you," Loki taunted before he leapt and escaped.

Clint and Natasha huddled around Steve, unable to take chase. Loki was right about one thing, they didn't possess the kind of superhuman abilities the others did, just human skill. Even Steve was just a man if imbued with superhuman tolerances.

"Are you all right?" Natasha asked.

Steve, at first, didn't feel anything untoward, but then sudden, radiating pain assaulted him. He tried to fight it, tried to move against it, but all he could feel was the pain pulling him down to his knees, the urge to scream overwhelming yet he managed just panting groans.

Oddly, the pain felt familiar, his body reacting as if it recognized what was attacking him.

"We've got to get you help," she said.

Steve could only nod and groan.

**AVAVAVAV**

Steve was laid down onto a bed in the sick bay, groaning and struggling against pain that had no source and yet it seemed everywhere inside of him. Fury and the others watched helplessly as the doctors tried ministering to Steve's pain, but nothing they tried eased the discomfort.

Natasha came over and took Steve's hand only to feel it being squeezed then released, not from rejection, but from necessity. Steve knew he would hurt her, crush her hand.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wish there was something I could do. If it weren't for my stupidity letting Loki corner me, both you and Clint wouldn't have had to rescue me."

Steve shook his head.

"N...no, not your fault...It was a trap..."

"Yes, to get you both."

"N...no, no...just me," Steve gasped through pain. "Loki wanted me...all along..."

"You don't know that."

"I do...the injection...meant for me..."

"It was meant for anyone who got in his way -"

"No, no, you don't understand...I get...why this...this felt familiar..."

"Now, you're just delirious. Pain is pain -"

"Not this kind...was like when the...doc...gave me the serum...to transform me...Pain is the same..." Steve struggled to breath, every word he uttered felt like it was suffocating him. "Different though...that pain stopped...this isn't...What Loki said...I think I'm changing back..."

"What?" She said shocked by the revelation.

The others rallied around Steve at that moment.

"What are you talking about, Rogers?" Fury asked.

"Loki...said this would...undo me...I understand now...this is...the serum...that made me...only...this is changing me back...I feel it..." Steve bucked with pain and Thor offered him his hand to grasp.

He battled anger and regret that his brother had caused this to happen to a man he was learning to respect far more than he had expected.

"What? I don't -" Fury started.

"Let me explain, you see, Loki's given Steve the same serum that changed him, but he's done something with it. Reverse engineered it somehow. It's changing him back to his original self," Stark piped in, understanding.

Steve nodded his head.

"Well, we have to stop it," Clint said, his own anger building over being at Loki's mercy yet again only without being under the tesseract's influence. This felt worse. This time, he had been disarmed and let someone he knew and respected get hurt.

"How? It's not like the formula is written down somewhere. It died with Dr. Erskine," Stark enlightened.

"There must be something we can do,," Natasha said, her voice breaking imperceptibly, betraying her carefully walled emotion.

Steve shifted his gaze towards Tony.

"My blood...samples were taken after I changed...they were to be analyzed...when doc was killed...never got around to it..."

"That was almost 70 years ago. Who knows where the hell they are now? And they're probably degraded," Fury said.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are just a bundle of negativity?" Stark snarked.

"Dr. Erskine...told me...before experiment...where he would hide them...only told me...didn't trust anyone else...just in case something like this...happened."

Steve arched again with pain.

"Told me...injecting my blood with serum in it...would save me if anything happened...I think...he knew this was possible..."

"So where are they?" Fury asked.

"Map...my locker...at gym..."

"Does security mean anything to you?" Fury scolded. "You should have given it to me."

Steve tried to smile through the spasms.

"Didn't trust you...not then...forgot about it when things got...out of hand," Steve then groaned.

"Seriously? Did it ever occur to you that maybe someone might find it there?" Stark said.

"Not the only genius in town, Stark...coded...it...decoding key..." Steve stutterered, a wistful expression crossed his face. "Peggy."

Tony respected Steve the more he worked with him. He wasn't the antiquated cartoon hero he had accused him of being. He even wished that he had his unshakeable faith and belief. After all the people who had been killed by his weapons, he felt all he could hope for was cynicism. Steve Rogers wasn't afraid to push back and Tony was discovering that a bit of his patriotism was rubbing off.

"Well, I say we get this show on the road or we'll lose our fearless leader," Tony joked, but there was a hint of sincerity in it.

Thor placed his strong hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I'm sorry that my brother did this to you. I will right this heinous wrong and ensure that he pays for what he's done," Thor said, humbled by the evil his brother had wrought on a good and, in his eyes, a noble man.

"You're not...your brother's keeper," Steve said with a nod.

Thor felt moved by Steve's implicit forgiveness and could only nod back in acknowledgement.

All the men gave Steve their wordless promises that they would rally their efforts and skills toward finding the serum and exacting the appropriate punishment towards Loki. Steve felt the comradeship through his pain and it gave him a will to survive.

Natasha wanted to stay. She didn't want to leave Steve alone. He, of all of them, didn't deserve to be alone.

"You don't...have to...be here..." Steve said.

"I know. You shouldn't be alone."

Steve smiled as he shook with pain.

"I appreciate that..."

"When it's time to face Loki in battle, I will happily fight by your side."

Steve nodded.

"You...remind me of her...you know," He said with a trembling smile.

"Will you tell me about her?" She said shyly worried that maybe she had asked too much.

Steve clenched his eyes closed and stiffened.

"I'm sorry. I overstepped -"

When he opened his eyes again, he smiled.

"She was strong-willed...like you...she was a crack shot...she had a mind of her own..."

"You loved her," Natasha said with a smile.

"We didn't have time to...really find out..." Steve grunted. "I can't speak for her...but for me...yeh, I loved her."

"I'm sure she loved you too," Natasha said with certainty.

Steve smiled weakly again before it was wiped off his face from another wave of pain. He groaned and panted through it. Natasha could only put a hand on his chest in the hopes it provided some measure of comfort.

Once the pain eased again, he sank back onto the bed, still panting through residual spasms wracking his body. He saw the concern on Natasha's face and was grateful for her sympathy and company. He had seen her compassion towards Clint and some thing more.

"Y...you love him, don't you?" He gasped, aiming the same declaration back at her.

Natasha was startled by the question. She wasn't expecting it.

"I don't know. I don't know if I'm capable of loving anyone."

Steve was sucking air into his lungs just to keep breathing through the pain, but he struggled to curl a grin at the corners of his lips.

"Even a...90 lb. weakling like me...can see that you love him..."

His mirth was more strained choking than he had wanted, but he hoped she intuited the sincerity he wanted to convey to her.

She smiled back, shy and a bit embarrassed by the compliment.

Steve's expression fell as he licked his lips and breathed in whimpers.

"Don't...waste another...moment...tell him...you love him...with this war...you may not...have..." Steve clenched his eyes closed. "Guys, we're idiots...we think we'll have time...then it's too late...I can see...that he loves you too."

Natasha found her eyes filling with tears, so moved by Steve's offer of advice and gathered that he was speaking from experience.

"Take it...from an old man...who waited too long...the only thing...that matters in this life is love...it's what Loki will never understand...what he can't take away from us...it makes us better...than him. It's what makes all humans heroes."

Steve held her hand gently in his.

"This..." He emphasized as he lifted weakly their joined hands. "This...is what makes us invincible against any evil...tell Clint...Natasha. It will make...the fight worth everything to him...worth surviving...for you both..."

He let go and didn't have any more strength left other than to apply it to the pain.

Natasha found herself bringing to bear all of her training as an assassin to regulate her breathing, to calm herself, so she wouldn't breakdown in tears, but hearing him speak of love and survival was slowly cracking her carefully crafted walls. She had been able to hold herself when Clint had been taken. She was able to cloak her concern in order to keep focused on the mission to rescue him and perhaps that was what had kept her in check, but seeing the torment that Steve was enduring and how he was able to still advise her on how to express her feelings, something she was never good at, brought an affection to the surface, affection born from respect. His actions at that moment were a kind of heroism that had nothing to do with battle, war or hand-to-hand conflict and she ached to defend that heroism. She tried to channel her sentimentality into a rage against the demi god who had done this to him. She was better at anger and rage. She knew how to express those emotions. She trembled with the need to unleash them on the person who deserved it.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Elder Statesman**

**Part 2:**

The doctors had determined that Steve was quickly losing muscle mass and along with that, his veins, arteries, bones and tendons were deteriorating, becoming weaker and weaker. If they didn't find his blood with the serum soon, there would be a point of no return. There was also doubt that even if they found the blood and if it wasn't already degraded, the transformation back might kill Steve anyway. They didn't know if he had any reserves left to undergo the painful process all over again.

Steve knew.

He knew what he had wanted to do before they even speculated on his chances for survival, and he told the doctors that no matter what condition the blood was in, he would go through it all over again. He'd rather die on his own terms than let Loki win.

Natasha listened with awe at Steve's completely unwavering conviction. It made his suffering all the more unfair.

When Fury had announced over the comlink that they had found the locker and blood and were heading back, she reluctantly stirred Steve from his concentration. Merciful unconsciousness eluded him, but he had found a way to drift away, if not meditating, then creating a place where he could retreat to for a few minutes at a time. She didn't know how much of it was true concentration or how much of it was the poison invading his mind, but she was grateful that he could find some measure of escape.

"They've found the blood, " she said. "They're coming back with it now."

Steve nodded slowly. "There...should be...a notebook...explaining...what needs to be done..." he rasped.

"They found it all, Captain."

"Call me Steve," he said hoarsely.

"What?"

"I'm a Captain in name only...call me Steve."

"You served and fought. You more than earned -"

"No...not like the men who worked their way...to their ranks...I...didn't..." Steve said, his breathing ragged, tired and yet punctuated.

"Okay, Steve," she acknowledged even though she disagreed with his assessment.

They then heard the footsteps of the others walking in and they gathered around him.

"I hear...you found everything...hope I didn't make it too tough for you," Steve joked.

Every man had to straighten at the sight before them; Steve Rogers was thinning, bones were showing through his translucent skin. It looked as if he were dissolving away, but they were also impressed at Steve's attempts to make them feel comfortable, knowing how badly he must've felt if how he looked was any indication.

"Please, your code was no match for the computers," Tony snarked.

Steve smiled in spite of the pain.

"We've given the Doctor's notebook and your blood to the medical staff. They'll examine it -" Fury related as stoically and as impartially as he could, but he was having a difficult time. Truth be told, Captain America was one of his heroes as well. Only Coulson knew that.

Steve shook his head.

"I've read his notes...guess I was feeling nostalgic..." Steve said. "I'm no doctor, but all you'll need to do is inject me with the blood as is."

"Rogers, it's been hidden, no refrigeration -" Fury tried to protest.

"For 70 years, I can do...the math, sir, but I know that Stark and Banner...have already read the notes too...they know...my blood..." Steve cringed with pain, cutting off his words.

"It doesn't deteriorate like human blood," Bruce piped in. "Whatever Erskine used to metabolize the serum, it fused onto every component of Steve's blood."

"It's as fresh as the day they extracted it. A Twilight vamp's perfect swig in a vial," Tony joked then became serious. "The problem is more about timing. It might be too late to administer it to have any effect on Rogers."

"What? What do you mean?" Natasha asked, distressed.

"My body...might be too far gone to recover, but that doesn't matter," Steve said.

"It could kill you," Clint joined in the discussion.

Steve smiled.

"Whatever Loki gave me is already doing that...The blood will either save me...or just accelerate the inevitable. I'm willing to take that chance."

Steve bucked weakly.

"You'll need...to put me...into a containment cell," Steve said.

"Why?" Natasha asked.

"We don't have the pod he was in the last time," Bruce said. "When the serum starts working, Steve will metamorphose and he won't be able to control it."

Steve looked at Bruce Banner, an expression of gratitude on his face.

"I'm counting...on you to...help me if things...you know...get out of control."

Bruce had always considered his "condition", considered himself, a biological mistake, the kind of mistake you found a way to eradicate. His barely contained anger was just a fuse to be lit at a moment's notice and not necessarily in his control, but after reading Erskine's notes and learning that Steve Rogers had undergone something similar, it gave him a perspective he wasn't expecting. He had tried to synthesize Erskine's formula, and it had failed with horrendous results. At the time, he had never imagined that he would actually meet the man who had been the first to undergo the transformation, let alone Erskine's actual notes.

Bruce also didn't feel alone anymore, and though they were different, both ideologically and generationally, Steve could understand the torment of becoming someone, something else. And perhaps it was the kind of man Steve Rogers was that had made all the difference between success and failure in the experiment. Erskine's notes had mentioned that Steve's inherent belief in good and in self-sacrifice had determined his decision to select him, factors Bruce had never considered in his attempts. He would be the first to admit that he wasn't a completely good man. He often wondered if the monster was closer to the man he really was.

"Of course," Bruce said with due respect as he remembered how he had first met Steve Rogers and how Steve hadn't cared about "what" he was, just who he was.

Steve felt time running out. He knew that the golden window for him had already closed so he was now on borrowed time. If he was going to survive, he had to get the blood into him, but he had to do one last thing, likely his last act.

"I need a promise...and in order to ask it, you need to know...that I trust each of you...I have fought beside you and understand that though...we may have different views...we have a common goal...I want you to know that...I believe in all of you...I need you to promise me that if this fails...it won't drive you apart, but keep you together...Coulson's death brought us together...my death...has to keep you together..."

Everyone in the room was caught wordless. Even Tony Stark's snarkiness was cowed.

"I'm trusting you to promise me...that my death won't be about avenging it...You won't beat Loki if it is...I don't want...to be avenged...I want...to be a part of something greater...and I know that I already am...I want you to know that."

Steve then began to convulse and the doctors pushed everyone out of the way to wheel him away.

Time was running out.

Every member stood humbled by Steve's words for a moment, unable to move from the gravity of the responsibility he had given them, potentially being his deathbed wish. There was nothing more to say, but there was much more to do, to show support for Steve, to be there for him.

They assembled around the containment cell. It hurt all of them to see Steve restrained, but they understood why. Still, at that moment, seeing how thin Steve looked, the restraints seemed laughably unnecessary. Steve looked ghastly frail and weak. The convulsions had finally stopped, but he seemed barely alive. His chest inflating and deflating was both reassuring and frightening as they saw the outline of of his ribs.

Steve turned his head and he saw the worry on their faces. In a strange way, it warmed him, comforted him to see them there, united in their concern, but somewhere deep inside of him, he knew that they were also united in something greater than him. That thought gave him hope for them. He weakly gave them a thumbs-up despite his restraints and smiled. He hoped that it would reassure them that no matter what happened, he would be at peace with it.

The doctors entered the room and one of them had the hypodermic with his blood from another lifetime. Steve shifted his gaze and gave the doctor a nod of affirmation that he was ready. He inserted the needle and Steve barely flinched. His memory went back to when Erskine had prepared him for the procedure, and he had mistakenly thought a simple shot was the extent of it. He had been very wrong then. This time, he didn't make such an assumption because he knew the worst was yet to come, as bad as what he had been going through for the past several hours with Loki's reverse engineered version.

The doctor pressed the plunger, emptied the contents into his left arm vein then removed it. He stepped back. Steve said,"You should go, I'll be okay," to him, giving him permission to leave him alone. It was so weak the doctor barely heard him.

Steve was suddenly afraid, as afraid as he was the first time he had been injected.

And then he didn't have time to be afraid.

There was, at that moment, only familiarity in all of its fiery, fierce reality.

This time, he couldn't hold back the screams.

The containment cell wasn't sound proof and the glass breaking wail that Steve had roared should have shattered everything, but it hadn't.

Except maybe every heart outside of it who had heard it. Even Tony Stark's encased heart shuddered off rhythm for a second.

They all watched in horror and perhaps with a little awe as Steve Rogers's body transformed again, at what seemed like an inhumanly accelerated pace. Muscles expanding, inflating against skin, veins and tendons stretching to keep up.

Natasha's eyes filled with tears and her body went rigid with trying to maintain her control, but it was slipping. She felt Clint position himself closer to her then his arm brushed against hers. She reached for Clint's hand and squeezed. He looked over at her and squeezed her hand in return.

Steve caught the moment, and a sliver of satisfaction knitted through his suffering. It was then stolen away by an unbearable wash of agony. He couldn't suppress the scream that came with it. He pulled against his restraints and they chafed against his wrists and ankles.

"Can't they give him something?" Tony asked, his voice edged with frustration and concern.

"There's nothing strong enough," Bruce said, almost dreamily, as if recalling his own dance with his modified and failed experiment.

Bruce understood with intimate clarity of camaraderie what Steve was going through.

"I will make Loki pay for this," Thor said, the bass tone in his throat rumbling with growing fury.

"We'll all make Loki pay for this, in spades," Stark affirmed.

When it seemed the worst of the explosive changes were settling into occasional twitching, Steve had stopped squirming, but his breathing was ragged, wet with phlegm and wheezing. The doctor checked Steve's vitals and his expression left the others fearful. After he finished his examination, he signaled that they could come into the containment cell.

When they had gathered around the doctor, his expression hadn't changed at all. It was still full of doubt and with grim purpose.

"Captain Rogers is extremely weak, but he's asked for all of you."

"How is he?" Natasha asked.

"We've given him something that will hopefully ease his discomfort, but I'm worried about his blood pressure. It's low and his heart rate is weak."

"What's his prognosis, doctor?" Fury asked, pragmatic because he had to be, concerned because he did care, contrary to everyone's opinion of him.

"I'll be honest with you, I'm surprised he's still alive, but I'm concerned that the transformation may have compromised both his immune and his cardiovascular systems. He's highly vulnerable to infection and heart failure."

The silence of everyone absorbing the cold and hard facts of Steve's condition was deafening.

"Can we see him now?" Natasha asked, breaking it.

"He needs to rest so not too long."

They nodded and walked over to Steve. For every step they took, each of them tried to paint their expression with gentle concern not the anxiety they really felt.

Steve's physique was as he had once looked, muscular again, but his face was pale, drawn, lined with strain, his chest heaving with staggered breathing. He managed a smile as they approached. When they were beside him, he broadened his smile, shaking with the effort to sustain it.

"P...piece of cake..." He said breathlessly as he closed his eyes in exhaustion, relentless pain kept him conscious.

Suddenly their visit was interrupted by the the com. It was Agent Hills' voice calling out.

"We've confirmed Loki's position! He's at Stark Tower! So is the tesseract!"

Steve's body reacted to the news instinctively, the need to help was both intense and frustrating as every attempt to move brought agony to every part of his body. He growled in helplessness as his breathing became pants.

"W..We have to stop him..." Steve panted as he struggled and failed to rise up from the gurney his muscles rippling with spasms making them almost useless to him.

"We will," Clint said as he placed a hand on Steve's chest, his commitment to him absolute.

Steve felt the pain permeate every cell, but he wasn't sure that it was all about the transformation. There was also an ache from failure. He believed he was letting his friends down, to face the dangers without the needed support.

It wasn't arrogance.

It was a deeply held responsibility for their lives that drove him .

"We have to stop Loki and the tesseract," Fury said. "Thor's right. It belongs to his world."

Nick gazed at the alliance he saw among these empowered individuals and realized that Steve Rogers had mobilized them in a way that he never could, to a unified cause; saving the Earth was a given, but saving one of their own, that was what was needed, that made it a personal investment for each of them. It wasn't vengeance. It was the fruition of the Avengers Initiative.

"Besides, we don't need it anymore."

He went over to Steve and put a hand on his shoulder.

"When you're ready, we'll be there for you. All of us. Count on that," Fury said, implicit faith that Steve would be there.

Steve was so moved by the gesture, he could only nod.

"Besides, you don't want us to have all the fun, now do you?" Tony teased as he, too, placed his hand on Steve's shoulder, an emphasis that demonstrated a commitment that he didn't think he possessed other than to Pepper.

"Can't...have...you taking all the credit, can I?" Steve teased in return.

"You know I will, too...I'm all about style, right?"

Steve smiled weakly and nodded again. Tony then walked off, feeling the emotion coming through him like it had when Fury had used the word hero. He was still convinced that he would never qualify for that, but he realized that Steve did.

The others nodded back in a similar commitment as they filed out to head to Stark Tower and the inevitable battle ahead.

"Doctor Banner..." Steve then rasped. "May I have a word with you?"

Bruce stopped and went back.

"Bruce," he corrected.

Steve took in a breath with difficulty.

"Bruce...I...I...want you...to continue...your research..."

"What?" He said shocked, completely not expecting Steve to say that especially at a time like that.

"No matter what happens to me...take my blood...the doc's notes...find the cure...for yourself..."

Bruce stood speechless. Steve was telling him to find a cure to his transformation. He had come to accept that he could never escape his fate, not even through death and that isolation was the only solution. The bond that had been created between him and Steve through Erskine's formula had been unexpected and it made him feel less alone, less a freakish science experiment, if not necessarily a successful one.

"This can wait -"

"No, no, it can't. I...I don't know...if I'll be here when you all come back...what I feel...not normal..."

Bruce stiffened and understood the implication. Not normal was his life.

"If I can't kill..." Bruce paused, always struggling to find the right word to describe the other being he was. Hulk was someone else's term, "then you can survive this."

Steve smiled.

"I appreciate the...vote of confidence...and I wish...I could be so sure...but just in case...you need to keep trying..."

"I don't think I can," Bruce said. "After reading Erskine's notes, I think the formula's success is as much about the man who's getting it than it is about the science. You're a good man, unimpeachable. He knew that, knew that was important. I'm not. Perhaps, my curse, my punishment was my arrogance, for instead of thinking about whether I could, maybe I should have asked whether I should change nature and most arrogant of all, whether I was worthy of that power. I think the results speak for themselves."

Steve listened with understanding.

"I don't believe that...you are a good man...you and the hulk...you both serve for good..." Steve said tiredly. "What I do believe is that... all you need is...a chance to believe it yourself..."

Steve closed his eyes and groaned.

"Think about it...I just wanted you to know...that I'm giving you permission...to use the blood...It can't be lost, can't be just to have helped me...it has to serve a greater good."

Bruce nodded. Before he turned to walk away, he gripped Steve's hand.

"We'll stop Loki. I promise. Even if the big guy has to smash him to bits to do it."

Steve smiled and squeezed back in a much weaker grip.

Bruce let go and left.

Fury was the last to leave and Steve needed one more request from him.

"Director, wait, I need...one more thing," Steve said.

"Name it," Fury said.

"I need a comlink...I need to know what's...happening."

"I don't think -"

"It's not...a request...sir. If I can't be there...fight alongside them...then maybe I can...talk them through...whatever they're facing," Steve gently pressed. "Remind them...about what they are fighting for."

Fury considered himself a pragmatic man, a soldier first, perhaps commander even above that. He had his sentimentalities like he had for Coulson, but otherwise he didn't consider himself someone who leaned towards sloppy sentiment. Nick considered the Avengers Initiative as a practical necessity for Earth's survival, but Coulson had believed in what the Avengers Initiative stood for. Good triumphing over evil. A little hero worship for Steve Rogers played into that belief as well. It was watching Steve undergo such suffering and yet offering confidence to the others which had finally made him a believer.

"I'll see to it," Nick asserted as he turned and left the room.

Steve closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on healing. He didn't know what else he could do to make him whole again so that he could be there for his friends, but he did know he had to at least try to be helpful to them in any way he could until he couldn't do anything at all even if it was only to give them words of encouragement through the comlink. The idea of not being there with them, no matter what happened, to not fight by their sides was just as painful as the transformation.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Elder Statesman**

**Part 3:**

Steve listened intently to the battle coming through his com link and longed to be there every time he heard the struggle of each of his friends. He never heard surrender in any of their voices, but for every triumph they achieved, more of Loki's minions descended into the city, taxing each of them just to continue saving human lives.

Steve was struggling as well. No matter how much he tried to will healing, all he received for his efforts was continued, uncontrolled twitches as his muscles kept seizing up causing him to curl into himself with the intense tension. He would close his eyes and clench his face with the extremity of his suffering. Like his friends fighting off Loki's alien army, Steve fought off against what he knew the doctors thought was inevitable. They weren't saying it, but he knew they believed he was slowly dying, that his spirit might be fighting, but his body had been taxed to beyond human limits even his own superhuman ones. Maybe it was too much to ask of it to heal so much damage.

The leaden weakness that was weighing him down didn't seem to be lessening either. He couldn't help thinking how ironic it was that he had his muscular physique back, but that he felt less strong than he had as the 90 pound weakling he once was.

The helplessness he felt only added to that weight, pressing down onto him, not only restraining him from acting, but suffocating him in ways that were more than just physical. Still, hearing his friends giving each other support and coverage at every juncture in the fight allowed him to consider accepting that maybe it would be okay to let go, that they would be all right without him. He wasn't a quitter, but knowing that his friends would bring the true meaning of the Avengers Initiative to reality gave him a peace that alleviated the pain a little.

But that peace of mind and body was short-lived.

He heard them yelling through the com link that Loki was missing, that they had to find him. He heard Natasha declare that Selvig had finally been severed from the tesseract's control and he had revealed that the key to closing the portal was the scepter. Steve understood the implication. Loki could be anywhere and they had to get the scepter to stop the invasion, more importantly to thwart Loki from reigning over humanity.

But Steve's instincts were telling him that if Loki had separated himself from the battle, there was only one place he would be heading.

Back to him.

Loki's insolence that his army could fend off the Avengers - they were outnumbered, after all - would drive him back to the Helicarrier to make sure that his mission to kill Steve was being carried out, that the serum he had injected was working on the one person he feared would ruin any ease of ascension to power over humanity.

Loki's ego wouldn't be able to resist watching Steve die in front of him. The satisfaction would be intoxicating.

It was then that he heard other sounds, sounds that weren't coming from the com link. He felt the wracking explosions as the Helicarrier lurched. There was more gunfire, explosions and screams. They were growing louder and louder and coming towards him.

It was Loki. Steve knew it, felt it in the dying cells of his body. He was coming to admire his handiwork.

Loki had accused Steve of arrogance, that he thought himself vital to the fight against him and his army, that the others were incapable of cohesion without him, but Steve knew better. He knew that Loki feared him, feared his survival. It made him smile to be the Achilles Heel to Loki's perception of his self-anointed reign. In Steve's opinion, Loki was giving him way too much credit for leading the band of Earth's avengers. Steve knew Loki was wrong. He was just one of a select few and that each of them possessed their own strength and power. Collectively, they were more than just Avengers, that was just a label. They were friends and that bond would save the Earth, not just one singular act of courage and power.

Steve fought off his body's rejection towards every move he was making, groaning and panting as he forced himself to rise to a sitting position. Though he managed it, he was barely holding himself steady, teetering on his gurney.

Steve knew what he had to do. He had to engage his body no matter how much it resisted. He had to take the scepter from Loki.

Even if it ended up to be his last stand.

A blast then ripped through the door of the sick bay. The concussive force rocked the containment cell.

It was now or never for the Earth, for him.

When the smoke cleared, he saw Loki standing at the doorway, wielding the scepter as if it were his birthright.

"What took you so long?" Steve taunted.

"New York traffic can be a challenge," Loki said sarcastically in response.

"So I've heard," Steve said.

"If you don't mind me saying so, you look positively deathly," Loki said with a smile.

"Guess I have you to thank for that."

"Well, I can't take all the credit. I see that you have tried to restore yourself to your former state. Not all together successful, were you?"

"What do you want?" Steve asked, injecting as much venom in his voice as he could, but even he could hear how less than threatening he sounded. "If you've come to gloat, you haven't won yet."

Loki sneered with contempt.

"Arrogant to the end, I see."

"You should talk."

"I will win. Best face that now."

"Never," Steve said defiantly.

"Well, considering you can barely sit, I think it's you who's underestimating who has the upper hand here."

Steve realized that Loki wasn't aware of his com link and that everyone could hear their conversation. All Steve had to do was stall him and he had to hope that he had the strength to do it.

"Why are you wasting your time with me exactly? Why aren't you commanding your army? Come to admire your work? Look at me!" Steve said, trying to play up his uselessness though it was hardly an act. "I'm a dying man."

"You wound me, Captain," Loki said, feigning hurt as he placed his hand on his heart sarcastically.

"I would do more than that if I could," Steve threatened feebly.

Loki laughed.

"How easy it was to bring you to this pathetic state. Clearly you tried an antidote to defeat my formula. Let me guess, Erskine's original serum, perhaps?"

"You seem to have all the answers," Steve said, groaning. "You tell me."

"Ah, yes, and that is why I am here."

"What? Couldn't wait for the serum to do its work? Had to stop by to finish me off? I'm no threat to you."

"Oh, but that's where you underestimate your worth. I won't make that mistake."

"Really?" Steve said, his agony rising, his fortitude over it weakening quicker than he had hoped.

"Left alive, you could possibly defy the odds and survive to command your Avengers, as you call them, to incite an insurrection against me. You would become the leader of a rebellion. I'm no fool, Captain, even I can see that. I can't have any obstructions to my reigning over Earth."

In his ear, Steve heard his friends telling him that they were on their way. It gave him renewed strength. He'd just have to keep Loki amused for just a little while longer until they got there.

Steve knew that he had to grab the scepter from Loki. It was all down to him now. He couldn't let his friends down, let Earth down, even if it meant dying. Dying wasn't the worst fate, letting Loki and his army take over the Earth was, leaving his friends to avenge it or worse yet, to depose Loki's control. That would be an even worse legacy to leave behind.

"You give me way too much credit. Now it's you who's underestimating their commitment to defending Earth. They don't need me. I'm just one man."

Steve closed hIs eyes to gather whatever energy he had left in him as he heard Loki laugh again. It was now or never so he took in a breath and lunged for the scepter.

Steve tapped everything he had left in him. He knew that strength alone wouldn't be enough because he had very little of it left, but power could be drawn from quickness, finesse and cleverness. Steve brought all those skills to bear as he grabbed the scepter with both hands, catching Loki by surprise and off balance. Steve's fragile state left Loki underestimating the situation, not expecting an assault on him.

Steve twisted the scepter, wrenching it from Loki's grip before he could tighten his grasp on it. Steve used the momentum he had and swung it, hitting Loki square in the jaw, sending him flying across the containment cell. Steve's legs were trembling beneath him, threatening to buckle as he stood unsteadily.

Steve changed his grip to continue using the scepter as a weapon. It gave him the needed leverage to keep Loki at bay until the others showed up. Every move he made brought fresh pain and every muscle he engaged protested, sometimes threatening to surrender under the stress he was exerting yet they tenuously held. His left hand then accidentally seized the tesseract cube in the scepter. A surge of energy assaulted him and threaded through his body.

As the electric tendrils coursed through his body, he thought it was finally over, that he had been defeated, that he had failed his friends. The power of the tesseract cube streamed more excruciating pain into him and it drove him down to his knees. He tried to let go of the scepter, but the cube and the scepter had seared themselves onto his hands.

Loki was transfixed by what he was witnessing, a ripple of fear crossed his face as he attempted to wrench the scepter from Steve's grip only to be catapulted again into the opposite wall.

The team had finally arrived onto the Helicarrier and had rushed into the containment cell to join Loki and Steve. All of them then skidded to a sudden stop unable to believe what they were seeing as well.

Thor was, initially, in as much shock as his brother, watching a man he had pledged his brotherhood and unconditional allegiance being plunged back into agony by the tesseract. When he regained his senses, he turned his attentions towards Loki to restrain him.

"We have to help him!" Natasha said, frustration in her voice.

"We can't," Thor said. "The tesseract has melded with him. Any attempts to intervene would kill Rogers."

"Melded with him? What does that MEAN exactly? We're not on Star Trek! That thing isn't Mr. Spock!" Tony said, his own need to help just as urgent yet also just as thwarted as his friends. "What is it doing to him?"

"If it's doing to him what it did to me then we have to get it off him!" Clint yelled, the idea of anyone else experiencing the disabling disconnect of mind and, in his opinion, soul that he had was unconscionable to him.

"There is a legend that the tesseract contained powers other than just as a weapon. In the right hands, it could heal," Thor said.

"Right hands?" Fury interjected.

"It rightfully belongs to me!" Loki declared with defiance.

"You stole it!" Thor said with a booming rumble in his throat as he tightened his hold. "It decides who shall claim its power. You imprisoned it. That is not birthright, that is abduction, abusing its power to serve your whim, to quench your thirst for absolute power, to have dominion over innocents. That is NOT what the tesseract was destined for."

Loki scoffed as he ceased to struggle against his brother's grip. He knew Thor was the only man who could hold him. Resistance was wasted energy. Still, he was sure that his purpose for coming there would still be served if not exactly as he had planned. Steve Rogers would be destroyed at the tesseract's will. No human, superhuman powers or not, could survive its power. It was meant for demigods like him.

"It is said that the scepter takes on the character of the person who wields it. It becomes an extension of that person. Loki seized and harnessed its power against its intended purpose, a weapon for destruction. For Rogers, I know not its intent. What I do know is that we will not be able to intervene until that bond has been made," Thor explained.

"What about the portal?" Natasha asked. "We can't seal the portal without the scepter. Selvig's waiting at Stark Tower to close it."

No one had an answer.

Loki smiled in triumph and stayed silent.

All the Avengers could do was wait...and hope because as much as they knew they needed the scepter to save Earth, their friend's life was more important. Even if they could pool their collective powers to yank the scepter from Steve's hands, if it meant killing him in the process, they couldn't do it. If Thor was right and there was a chance that it would heal Steve, perhaps save him, they had to choose that over the Earth in that moment. It was a shared emotion that didn't need to be expressed aloud. For the first time, they were all united to the same cause and concern. They owed that unity to Steve.

Once again, everyone was forced to helplessly watch as their friend was being subjected to more pain and suffering. It was almost too much for them to bear so it was hard to imagine how Steve could be enduring it and yet he was, again, showing them all his greatest powers: Resilience and courage.

Steve heard everyone and everything around him. He heard them mentioning that the scepter was the only way to close the portal as well as that it was melding to him, but try as he might, he couldn't let it go, it wouldn't let him go. It stayed adhered to his hands, sending energy through him. He was awash in pain, but suddenly, also with memories. Dr. Erskine, and Peggy, they materialized in front of him, smiling at him. He was both afraid and strangely comforted by what his mind was telling him was an illusion. He knew they were dead, but seeing them as he had remembered them, untouched by time, eased his agony.

Everyone else also stared with amazement as they, too, saw the apparitions.

"What the -" Tony stuttered.

"That's Dr. Erskine and Peggy Carter," Fury informed.

"The woman Steve loves," Natasha said almost dreamily.

"I know that. I've read his profile," Tony said as he watched Fury throw an amazed look at him. "I know, I know, shocking. Get over it. I DO read, you know. The more important point here is that they're -"

"Dead," Fury filled in.

"Again, read his profile, I know that. What I want to know is why are they HERE? Why are we seeing them? Have we gone from Star Trek to seeing dead people now?" Tony snarked.

"Rogers has reached an altered state through the tesseract," Thor informed, his words soft, his expression, a mix of sadness and uncertainty.

"What does that mean?" Fury asked in a frustrated, demanding tone.

"It means that he will need to make a choice," Thor said, sadness winning out in the timber of his baritone. "This world or theirs,"

"Why are we seeing them?" Bruce asked, joining in.

"The tesseract is showing us what Rogers is seeing," Thor continued to explain.

"So, ghosts, then," Tony said, with a tinge of self-satisfaction in his voice, but not reveling in the admission.

"No, no, it's not real. We have to help him," Natasha uttered, the idea that they had gone through all they had only to lose the one battle they had to win gave her an ache.

"It is real for him. He is truly seeing his friends," Thor said. "The tesseract is testing him."

"Testing him? For what?" Tony interjected. "To become prom king?"

Thor rolled his eyes at Tony's impudent remarks.

"It is testing his will, not only to live, but of whether he is deserving of possessing the tesseract's power," Thor said. "The apparitions are what it pulled from his mind to seduce him to surrender."

"To let go," Natasha said, her heart breaking at the idea that Steve would surrender, but in a way, she would understand after everything he had endured. No one would blame him.

Clint watched Steve's struggle and his expression was calm.

"He won't let go," Clint said, composed confidence in his voice.

"You don't know that," Natasha declared.

"You told me that he had faith that I could overcome the heinous acts I did under the tesseract's influence because of the kind of man I am. I won't believe anything less of him because he's a better man."

Natasha looked up at Clint, their gazes met and she smiled proudly at the man she loved.

Peggy walked up to Steve. She was brimming with golden light and her warmth enveloped him. He sighed with it. She reached up and caressed his cheek. Though he didn't really feel her flesh touch him, the memory of her gave her reality.

"Steve, it's so good to see you," she said softly.

"It's good to see you too," Steve said, his voice sounding disconnected to him, but he was too happy to see her to waste time concentrating on why it did.

"You look tired," she said, her expression filled with concern.

"I am a little," Steve admitted softly with a shaky smile.

"You need to rest. Come be with me. I miss you," she offered almost seductively. "It's your turn to have what was robbed from you, from us. We can finally be together. You've done enough for this world, for them."

She tilted her head, pointing it towards the Avengers, his friends.

"Let someone else be the hero," Peggy said, continuing to stroke his cheek.

Steve felt the pull of her seductive words and the idea was attractive; to let go of everything, the pain, the suffering and to be with the woman he loved, to be with all the friends he had lost in a war so long ago...

Wait...his friends.

Steve clenched his eyes closed from a jolt of spasm that came with the thought, as if he was breaking free from some kind of hold and he had received a shock of realization for his trouble - from what, he wasn't sure - but it gave him needed clarity. He opened his eyes again to look at Peggy.

Steve then looked over at his newly acquired friends; friends who were like him, friends who were alive and who were fighting for the same reasons he was. Their expressions of concern and powerlessness at not being able to help him, pulled at his soul. As attractive as it was to just let everything go, to release his anguish, to be with Peggy, leaving them behind brought him a pain separate from what the tesseract was inflicting and it felt worse. He realized that he had found friendship in purpose, something he admitted was lacking in his other life. He was fighting alone back then, the entire weight of the world's safety squarely on his shoulders and he had suffered tremendous grief at being unable to save his very mortal friends. Here, he had others who were equal to his skills and strengths, together, they would prevail over any threatening evil.

"I'm not a hero, Peg. I never was. I just did what had to be done. These are my friends," Steve said. "As much as I want to be with you, I can't...I can't leave them to do this fight alone. They've been there for me."

Steve looked into her eyes and gazed longingly into them. He was absorbing the strength of her memory and drinking in her beauty so that he could have her in his mind to recall. She had always been in his heart.

"I love you, Peg. I should have told you that before the crash. I'm sorry I didn't say it then. It's time I practiced what I preach," he said as he smiled at remembering how he had told Natasha to tell Clint that she loved him.

He knew it had been too late for him to really tell Peg he loved her, but this was the best he could do. He had to hope that wherever she was, she would feel it.

"I knew it the moment I laid my eyes on you. I always will love you."

Peggy smiled and gave him a kiss then faded away.

Dr. Erskine then materialized. He pointed then placed his finger to his chest.

"You have kept your promise. You are a good man. Never forget that, no matter the challenges that await you, nothing can ever change that."

Steve nodded, seeing the pride in Erskine's eyes moved him.

"I hope I won't let you down," Steve said.

"You never could," Erskine said as he, too, faded away.

Suddenly, Steve felt infused with strength, the weakness that had dogged him lifted, the relentless pain ebbed away and he rose from his knees. He was also finally able to move his hands away from the cube. He held the scepter and it seemed to adapt to his grip as if it belonged to him.

"Are you all right?" Natasha asked, concern in her voice.

Steve saw all of the worried expressions and was renewed by their support, their presence, their collective priority to his well-being.

"Yeh, yeh," he said, for the first time his voice no longer filtering through pain. "Take me to the portal. I know what I have to do."

"I can give you a lift, just don't make anything out of it, okay?" Tony teased, a smile on his face at not only seeing Steve whole again, but that he could do something to help him.

Everyone smiled as well, including Steve. The hope in the room palpable and the friendship authentic.

AVAVAVAV

When Steve and Tony arrived at Stark Tower, protected and defended by the others as they continued to fend off the alien army, Steve had continued to feel the enveloping energy from the tesseract. Instead of depleting him, it was empowering him and if it was possible, he felt even stronger than he ever had before. It wasn't all just coming from the tesseract, though, it was also coming from the bond of friendship and the united front he felt from his friends. It was as if the tesseract was magnifying and channeling their collective confidence and trust into him.

Steve grasped the scepter, angling it to push through the force field. Natasha and Selvig had commandeered one of the alien transports to join him there in case Steve needed them. He gave them a nod then pierced through to the center of the power source.

Once the cube connected with it, a blast of energy catapulted skyward, heading toward the alien ship just beyond the portal. The powerful beam disintegrated the ship into pieces, destroying Loki's army along with it.

Steve was surprised to feel a sense of pure oneness with the scepter and tesseract. There was no pain, just a feeling of accomplishment, as if the tesseract was alive and transmitting its emotions into him. Steve didn't resist it and welcomed the relief it gave him. For a moment, his gaze caught Peggy and Erskine again, still smiling as they had before. This time, though, he knew that Peggy wasn't enticing him to be with her, this time, he knew she was letting him go. They both were.

His friends began to report that the remaining aliens in the city were crumbling earthward, being destroyed along with the ship. Then, like an eye of a tornado, with diminishing winds, the portal shrank, collapsing on itself, closing finally.

The power source disengaged from the tesseract and Steve lifted it away. Selvig and Natasha smiled brightly at him.

It was over. They had done it.

Each member of the Avengers joined them except for Thor. Understandably, as soon as the battle was won, he had used his hammer to transport him and his brother back to Asgard so that Loki could face trial and punishment for his criminal acts.

For the first time, Steve felt rejuvenated, not exhausted and stood among his friends, grateful to have them there with him to share in the victory.

"Anyone hungry? Because I'm STARVING. Saving the world can do that, you know? I know this great shawarma place...that is, if it's still standing."

Everyone laughed heartily. When it tapered off, Steve took in a breath, gazed at each face and smiled.

"Thanks," he said.

Each one of them just returned his smile, in each its own gratitude for Steve's friendship towards them, after all, in a moment of hopelessness, he had given them all what they had needed just as they had needed it. Words were unnecessary, a "you're welcome" seemed superfluous. They were the Avengers Initiative personified now.

"To Coulson," Steve then said as he saluted skyward and as the others bowed their heads in tribute.

The victory then felt a little bittersweet as a moment of quiet reflection permeated throughout them, demonstrating respect for a man who had sacrificed his life believing that they could all become greater as a team than as singular individuals, long before they had believed they could.

"We will never let you down again," Steve said as he completed his salute.

**FIN**

**Thanks for reading. I hope it was worth the read.**


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